


Oh

by Kaizoku_Musume



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-06-30 05:22:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19846441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaizoku_Musume/pseuds/Kaizoku_Musume
Summary: You’re sitting on the bathroom floor of a super mall listening to the boy in the next stall talk about the girl he likes





	Oh

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while since I've written anything, let alone posted it on here, but uh . . . this kinda came to me out of the blue and before I knew it I had two pages before me. It's not exactly what I want, but it's close enough, so here

You’re sitting on the bathroom floor of a super mall listening to the boy in the next stall talk about the girl he likes

You know he’s talking about you, even if he’s describing you in ways no one ever has before  
And if you were any other girl, this would be the part where you would be swooning  
But all you feel is a ball of misery forming in your chest, in your stomach

Because the pretty boy, the silly boy, the everything-goes-my-way boy,  
He’s not as obnoxious as you thought, not as put together, not as perfect  
You’ve seen him strut around in a sailor’s uniform, seen him strike out with a dozen girls, seen him bend to the whims of a small group of kids that he’s taken under his wing, seen him be fifteen shades of ridiculous only you would find endearing  
You’ve seen him struggle  
And any other girl would be lucky to be you, right now

But you’re not any other girl

You’ve never told anyone, never planned on telling anyone, never wanted to tell anyone  
There is no place in this world for people like you;  
You do not belong here, in this picket fence, two point five world

But

Just two days ago, you were a regular employee in a regular mall  
Now there are secret codes, and evil Russians, and mysterious chemicals, and underground labs and strange machines and even stranger drugs and nothing makes any sense anymore and you don’t know what to make of _any_ of this

What you do know is that he deserves an answer, and it is so, so tiring holding onto a secret for so long

So you tell him, because he’s the first boy who’s ever confessed to you and he’s the first friend you wanted to keep  
You tell him because you only have two things to lose, your life and your friend, and if the first is already at risk you might as well chance the second  
You tell him because he needs to know that you like him, you do, not in the same way as him but still in a way that matters  
You tell him because the two of you have spent the past few hours trading secrets that were never supposed to be locked away in the first place, so what’s one more?

You’re terrified, in the aftermath, in the bombed out remains of your honesty  
You want to take it back, want to magically produce some girl who _will_ return his feelings, want the world to be fair for just _one_ goddamn second—

You want, you want, you want

You’re sitting on the bathroom floor of a super mall listening to the boy in the same stall as you joke with you about your crush

He isn’t saying it, but you can hear it all the same:  
_Its okay_  
_I accept you_  
_I still like you, but I will not turn it into a and wield it against you_  
_We can talk about the girls we like, can tease each other like friends do_  
_We can still be friends, I care enough about you to want that no matter who you are_

Your laughter is teetering on the edge of hysterical, and it’s _definitely_ holding a sob in it, but it is still joyful  
Still relieved  
The day is nowhere near over, and there are still people trying to kill you, but this, right here, is a victory  
This is a prize you never expected to win, and you’ll be damned before anyone tries to take it from you

This is you and a boy sitting together on the bathroom floor of a super mall listening to each other laugh like best friends do


End file.
